Te Akau Tuesday Update

David writes:

What wonderful news the racing industry received yesterday with stake increases across the board during the key months of the coming season.

Congratulations to the TAB for paying out this extra money to the codes.  This has been done by a reduction or the elimination of duty on each bet and also with race fields' legislation now in full swing - this has certainly assisted in this good news - and there has also been a major reduction in costs that the TAB has taken out of its business.

Well done to New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing (NZTR) for the way it has apportioned this funding to extra prize money.  NZTR has retained about $4 million in reserves which I think is very wise and this money will be available going forward to support increased stakes in the years ahead.

Yes, obviously an increase in stakes is well overdue but it is such good news that this first increase is finally here!  It is also positive news because the costs of running a stable have also greatly increased in every area over the last two years so it is good to see that additional prize-money is going to the owners as it is owners that actually 'put the show on'.

At Te Akau Racing we are incredibly excited about the horses that we have to train for the next 12 months and beyond and I just cannot wait for the new season to start.

We have had six frosts in a row and yesterday morning it was -3 but it looks like those fine frosty mornings have come to an end with some rain coming tonight. The frosts certainly do not help the grass grow and it is quite surprising how much grass the cattle and sheep have eaten in the last week.

Congratulations to Mark Walker for yet another winner on Saturday night with Savvy Command owned by the Remarkable Stable. Mark aims to give this horse his next start in the Group 1 Singapore Darby where he will be ridden by Shafiq Rusof, well known to New Zealand punters as our stable jockey who was successful winning Group 1's on Melody Belle at Hawkes Bay.  Suppy, as we call him, is a world class jockey and it is just great to have him back in the team.  He recently has been relicensed in Singapore which is very good news as he and Mark have a long-standing working relationship.

We are just in the finishing stages of educating our Gold Coast yearlings and we could not be happier with all of them.  Our two colts and two fillies are top class and they all go in to the stable this Friday.

The five year old ewes are dues to start lambing today at Te Akau Stud although we did have one born last week.  Looking at the ewes this morning it is not going to be long before we have a number of babies on the ground.

It's a busy week on the farm and off - Karyn and I are having our first COVID jabs this week so it will be good to get that done.  Then on Saturday night Karyn and I are going to Matamata to take all our stable team out for dinner to thank them for our record breaking season which has made us all so proud - we will be having a special dinner for our stud team at the end of July too.  We are so fortunate to have the very best staff that you could wish for!

Have a great week.